POEM - THROWING PUNCHES

THROWING PUNCHES
we were all walking down the cement path
that divided the beach
from the beachfront houses
and it was probably around
half past two in the morning
there were three of us and four of them
and I was thinking with those odds
I might actually get something
“hey,” one of them shouted to me
“gimme a piggy back ride!”
I smiled at her
stopped and bent down
and hooted, “jump on!”
she jumped up and I went straight down
to the ground
her landing with her knee
in the back of my head
and her face on the pavement
“ow, you fuckin’ asshole!”
I stumbled to my feet and reached down
to help her up
but she ripped her hand away and said,
“get the hell away from me.”
“okay,” I laughed
looking around at the others
everybody was laughing
and we laughed all the way to Denny’s
where we went inside and ordered random things
from the menu
all the while I was still thinking,
“I’m still in. I’m definitely still in
with one of these girls.”
before our food came out
the guy at the table next to us
started talking shit
and I told him to get lost
he got up and left and came back a minute later
with a tennis ball and he threw it
across the whole restaurant
and beaned the face
of the girl sitting next to me
I jumped up and raced towards the door
and in no time I was outside on the ground
rolling around and trying to throw punches
but more often
getting kicked in the head
by a girl three times my size
everyone finally backed off
and it was just me and the other guy
throwing punches
until another friend of his drove up
and tried to run me over in her car
when they finally left
I thought I’d go back into Denny’s
to see if I still had it
but the manager lady wouldn’t let me in
I was covered with blood
from a nose that wouldn’t stop pouring
I had lost my friends so
I went around the building
to where the girls were sitting
eating their food
and I began tapping on the window
to let them know I was still there
still interested in getting to know them
they looked at me through the window
and pointed and laughed
and after a short time
began to ignore me
so I stood there
for a few minutes
watching them eat my fries
and drink my vanilla shake
hoping maybe one of them would reconsider
but none of them did
and I figured it was time to go
after my friend found me and said,
“man, you just don’t get women.”